by John Slaughter  

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The Sole Society Discussion Forum, though still in its infancy, is already proving to be a useful tool in encouraging the exchange of information and attracting new interest. I would urge members to visit the Forum on a regular basis and consider either adding to a discussion or starting a new “thread”, perhaps by giving brief details of their own ancestry.

Michael Saul, who has joined the Society, had the honour of posting the first discussion on the Saul section of the Forum. Under the title “Sauls of Sheffield”, Michael provided details of his ancestry back to a Thomas Saul and his wife Elizabeth. Though Thomas and Elizabeth raised their family at Stainforth in Yorkshire, three of their sons Peter (1830), George (1836) and Joseph (1840), later moved to Sheffield where they raised their own families. They were staunch Methodists and it is claimed that they built the Methodist chapel in Petre Street, Sheffield. Michael has provided some very useful information on later descendants that will enable us to expand quite considerably our existing chart. We have also been able to establish from the 1861 census that Thomas was born at Norton, Yorkshire circa 1800. This suggests that he was the Thomas Saul who was baptised at the parish church at Campsall on 25 February 1800 to John Saul and Elizabeth (nee Spencer). We had managed to marry off this Thomas to an Elizabeth Latham, a marriage that took place at Kirk Sandall in 1822. So it looks as though we will need to correct as well as update the chart.

Diana Barden has also been active on the Forum and has joined the Society. She has traced her Sawle ancestry back to Probus in Cornwall and in particular to a Richard Sawle and his wife Mary (nee Courtney) who married at Probus in 1796. They had eight children, though three died in infancy within one month of each other and are recorded on a gravestone in Probus churchyard.

Russell Butlin has joined and is another who can trace his Saul ancestry back to the parish of Campsall in Yorkshire. His great great grandmother was Sarah Hannah Saul who was born in the village of Askern on 1 September 1840 to Charles Saul and Elizabeth (nee Laughton). Sarah had three brothers Philip, James and Samuel. Their father, Charles, died at a relatively young age in 1846, hampering our identification of his origin. Elizabeth Laughton was however his second wife. He had married a Sarah Haigh at Campsall on 19 August 1816 and they had seven children baptised before Sarah died in 1837.

Aaron Hudson is another new member. Aaron lives in the US and Saul was his mother’s maiden name. His research has taken him back to a John William Saul who it is believed emigrated to the US from England during his twenties. There is some confusion as to his approximate year of birth and where in England he may have originated. He may be connected to the Saul family of John Amos as several Sauls from that branch emigrated to the US.

The final new member this time around is Hella Crosby who is researching on behalf of her mother in law. She is descended from Mabel Rose Hall (nee Saull) who was the only daughter of Arthur Saull and Emily Byson Anstee Algar. Mabel however had brothers of whom we had previously known of four, Leonard (1882), Arthur (1884), John (1885) and Zacariah (1891), all of whom were born in the Chelsea or Fulham area of London. Hella has now provided a fifth brother, Victor Cecil who was born in Fulham in 1894. We can establish from the GRO indexes that Victor Cecil married and raised his family in the Wandsworth area of London. This Saull family are fairly well known to us as we have several members who are closely related to this family, in particular Jenny Daniel and Barbara Taylor. I hope that from their contact we will be able to fill in some of the gaps.

Finally back to the Forum and to a “thread” posted by “Anne P”, who, at the time of writing, has not joined the Society. The Forum is open to non-members and all contributions are equally welcomed. Anne P is interested in Isaac Sawle who, although born at Gerrans, Cornwall moved firstly to the Isle of Wight and then to Liverpool. He married twice, firstly to Caroline on the Isle of Wight and by whom he had four children, the first two born in the Isle of Wight and the last two in Liverpool. Caroline died in 1874 and Isaac married Sarah Anderson, an American, in 1876. Isaac and Sarah had seven children. Member Derek Sawle is also researching Isaac. The common link between Derek and Anne is that Derek is descended from Charles Sawle, a child of the second marriage, and Anne from Mary Hannah, a child of the first.

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